I have noticed throughout my life that most artists are their worst critiques. When others feel that the artist was great, the artist might feel that they weren’t at their best.
When you are performing for an audience, it is inevitable that you are going to experience all types of outcomes. There will be times that you are going to feel that you had the best performance of your life and times when you will feel that you had the worst performance of your life. Anything can happen, from forgetting lyrics, tripping on stage, falling downstairs, wardrobe malfunctions, even the slightest glottal attack can make you judge the quality of your performance. No matter how big, small, or noticeable your performance mistake might be, remember not to be so hard on yourself. Whatever happened that you aren’t feeling great about, remember that it’s how you recover from it that makes the difference.
How do you rise from what you think may have been an embarrassing performance? Learn from your mistake, get back up and keep on going.
Having a humiliating experience during a performance might completely disappoint you at the time, but picking up the pieces and using it as a learning tool is really what matters. If you trip on your outfit, you will know that you need to have your hem up a bit higher next time. If you forget a lyric, you will know that you need to figure out a way to remember it next time. If you trip on stage, you will know that you need to be more aware of the equipment (wires, tape, music stands, monitors, lights ) that surround you on the stage. If your wireless mic dies, you will know that you need to make sure to put new batteries in your wireless and backup batteries on standby. The possibilities are endless as to what might happen during a performance. Some of the things you will be able to be in control of and some of the things you personally might not be able to control at all.
Being aware, being prepared, and learning from performance mistakes is the key to keep moving forward. Keep in mind that sometimes you will be the only one who will know that a mistake has been made and that most times your audience will have no clue unless you tell them! No matter what, don’t let any mistake (big or small) prevent you from accomplishing your goals and living your dream!
